LoveCom: Hard Times and Friendships
by Stonecoldhard12
Summary: Two years had passed since their high school graduation, Koizumi and Otani are leading steady lives. Not only they face challenges with their own relationship but also reuniting with old friends that at one time were very close to Koizumi and Otani. What will happen if they can overcome those challenges and improve the relationship?
1. An Unforgettable Rainy Day

1

An Unforgettable Rainy Day

Otani, now a second-year student at the university trying to get his teaching degree is starting to gain more traction in his relationship with long-time girlfriend, Risa Koizumi. They had been living together in an apartment on the outskirts of Osaka's city limits since the summer after high school graduation. Risa on the other hand has been making ends meet by recently enrolling into a technical school while still working at the same restaurant that she started in her third-year of high school. However, both Otani and Risa barely kept contact with their closest friends in the two years since they parted ways at their high school graduation ceremony. Otani and Risa did not have much time to keep talking to their friends due to extremely busy they were in their prospective lives.

It was on a rainy day and Otani had got to his first class on time like he always does. Upon entering the classroom, Otani sees a note hanging on the door which had been written by his instructor stating that he would be gone for the week. There was a two-hour break from the time his first class ended until the next class began. Since it was pouring outside, Otani found a bench in the hallway near the classroom that he was supposed to go to for the next class and sat on it. This gave him some time to check up and see how Risa was doing since she had no work or classes to do on that day. An hour and a half passed by, Otani had read that Risa was doing alright and made a couple of jokes about him which he ignored them. Then he proceeded to enter the classroom which surprisingly Otani was the first person to show up.

Suddenly, an instructor had peered into the classroom to see Otani was the only one there and started to get notes ready for lecture. "This is very surprising. I thought everyone else would show up by now." The instructor stated as he was looking around the classroom. This did not bother Otani who had drawn a blank stare at his instructor while putting his phone on silent. In that moment, the instructor had asked Otani if he had prepared for an exam that was to be taken that day. Then Otani barely pulled his book out to do some studying before the class began and the rest of his classmates which was about five other people showed up. The instructor greeted the other students and got ready to pull out the papers for the examination.

"Ok, class. This examination you guys are about to take is composed of 40 multiple-choice questions, 4 short answer questions, and 1 essay question over the material that was discussed over the past two weeks. Once you get finished with the exam, you are free to go." The instructor briefed his students before handing out the exams. This instructor tended to issue out exams every two weeks; that barely impacted Otani since he mostly studies on the days that Risa has either work or school going on. The exam took Otani an hour to complete since the essay question had him thoroughly write out the best answer he could give.

That ended Otani's day at the university, since he has two classes scheduled two days a week. His overall schedule had been very light opposed to the three semesters since being enrolled in the university which had been crammed full of general classes. Before heading back to the apartment, Otani had decided to briefly visit his family who lived three blocks south of the university. This was merely because it had been raining most of the day and Otani had not seen his family in the past couple of months.

"Isn't Koizumi expecting you back at the apartment?" Otani's mother asked Otani once he stepped foot into the house.

"I think she is, Mom. But I wanted to see how you guys are doing and have not seen you in a couple of months." Otani responded with a sigh underneath his breath.

That had Otani's mother make a baffled looked on her face since she was not expecting to see Otani for a while. However, she was relieved that her son came to visit her and catches up on what was going on in Otani's life. Near the end of the visit, Otani had received a message from Risa wanting him to come back to the apartment. With that Otani said goodbye to his mother and rushed back to the apartment out in the drizzling rain.

Upon entering the apartment, Otani had noticed that Risa was very upset about something but could not figure out what. Both Otani and Risa were sitting on the sofa that was situated in the living room at the front of the apartment. While Otani had, a calm look on his face, Risa almost got angry for him being calm.

"What's wrong, Koizumi?" Otani stated out of curiosity.

"I had gotten some very depressing news about some of our old friends. It had bothered me for a little while now." Risa stated with a sad look on her face.

Otani had started to wonder what Risa was talking about since the only time he had talked to her was before his second class at the university. Before putting his books on the table, Otani wiped off a tear that was coming down from Risa's right eye.

"What was the news that you were talking about, Koizumi?" Otani stated in response to the situation.

"I found out that Nobuko and Nakao had called off their relationship. It was sad since they were the ones that brought us together." Risa responded with an honest look on her face.

This however did not surprise Otani at all since he knew about the recent problems between Nobuko and Nakao's relationship. The reason was that the last time Otani had talked to Nakao he had stated about the relationship problems; which Otani had kept it secret from Risa until now.


	2. The Beginning of a Crucial Investigation

2

The Beginning of a Crucial Investigation

"You knew about this the entire time, Otani." Risa stated with a stern voice towards Otani realizing that he knew of Nobuko and Nakao's relationship faltering.

Otani then started to get agitated by the fact that Risa was trying to scold him for not confessing up this secret. This was their way of trying to cope with the barren news that Risa just learned an hour prior to the conversation with Otani. However, for what was to be said next would end up being a shocker to not only Otani but for Risa as well.

"Maybe we should investigate the truth into why Nobuko and Nakao broke up in the first place." Risa blurted out the first thing that came into her mind.

"What are you crazy or something, Koizumi? We know that they are our friends and all but wouldn't that make them get angry at us for doing such a thing." Otani said while in the agitated mood.

That ended up resulting in a brief argument between Risa and Otani which lasted for a while before a knock came from their apartment door. Risa went to check to see who it was and she was very surprised to see the person that was standing in front of her. It was none other than Nobuko, Risa's best friend and she was standing there in a depressed mood.

"Oh, Nobu-chan. I am very surprised to see you here and from the way you are it does not look good." Risa stated once Nobuko came into the apartment.

Otani then stood up from the sofa and went into the kitchen to start making a pot of tea for everyone that was in the apartment. Risa who was still a little upset with Otani tried to comfort her best friend while trying to control her emotions and not tell Nobuko that she knew about the break up. Sometime later, Otani came back with two glasses of tea which he had given to Risa and Nobuko.

"What happened, Nobu-chan?" Risa stated out of concern for her best friend.

Before Nobuko could respond to Risa's question she turned her attention to Otani and gave him a death glare. This caused Otani to get nervous into why Nobuko was acting this way towards him.

"Risa, I really can't explain what caused me and my darling to break up. Unless that little twat midget of a boyfriend of yours knows something that we don't know about." Nobuko responded with a very stern voice.

"Look I have not talked to Nakao in two months. I just found out about your break-up from Koizumi when I came back from university." Otani stated in a calm tone trying to not think of any scolding attempts between Risa and Nobuko.

Nobuko then understood that Otani was trying to be honest with not holding any crucial information about Nakao's actions prior to their break-up. Immediately, Otani had picked up the finished glasses of tea and placed them on the sink. While Otani was in the kitchen, Risa was pulling out something from underneath the sofa and wanted to show it to her friend.

"Risa, what is that?" Nobuko asked out of curiosity.

"Well it is a quilt I made at school a couple of weeks ago. I wanted it to be kept secret from Otani." Risa responded with honesty.

Otani made his way back into the living room and he had overheard the conversation all the way from the kitchen. Not realizing that Otani knew what she said, Risa with a nervous look on her face hid the quilt behind the sofa. Nobuko thought that it was a crazy idea for Risa to do such a thing and eventually made the look she had upon entering the apartment to a complete 180-degree turnaround.

"Koizumi, why are you trying to hide a quilt from me? I can see it all the way from here." Otani stated once he got to the living room.

"Umm… real funny. how did a quilt end up here behind the sofa?" Risa responded with complete nervousness in her face.

Observing what was going on Nobuko got upset that her best friend was flat out lying to her boyfriend who is standing just a few feet away. If there was one thing that Nobuko cannot deal with that is liars. Because it reminded Nobuko of a key reason why her and Nakao's relationship flattered despite that out of their group of friends it was the most powerful love relationship out all of them.

"Risa, stop trying to lie towards Otani. Dang it please tell him the truth." Nobuko said right as she was tempting to slap Risa in the face.

That is when Risa confessed to the truth about the quilt towards Otani and apologized to him for lying about it in the first place. However, it provided somewhat of a clue about the break-up between Nobuko and Nakao. This was unbeknownst to Otani and Risa who were tempted to investigate the origin of the break-up in the first place. The fact that a part of Nobuko's personality was something that Risa had overlooked until she had to confess the truth behind the quilt she made for Otani.

"Anyways, I got to head back home now. Thanks for letting me visit you guys." Nobuko stated as she was leaving Risa and Otani's apartment.

Risa waved goodbye to Nobuko while Otani was cleaning up the living room. In that moment, Risa had started to figure out possible ideas for investigation. This however gave Otani a very suspicious look since he was the one that told Risa it was a crazy idea to investigate on their friends' break-up right before Nobuko randomly showed for a visit.

"Why are you giving me that look, you midget?" Risa asked using the one term that Otani does not like the most.

"Because you are still going through with this crazy idea of yours. Will you please stop calling me a midget, Koizumi." Otani responded with a sigh underneath his breath.

With a big sigh underneath her breath, Risa proceeded to head to the bathroom so she can take her shower. Otani then glanced at a note that Risa wrote which she listed ideas about a possible reason why Nobuko and Nakao's relationship ended. This pondered Otani's mind until Risa got out of the shower to notice that Otani was still in the living and he read the note that she wrote.

"If this investigating thing is something that you want to do, Koizumi. Then I will be more certainly to help you out." Otani stated once he saw Risa standing there in the living room.

That surprised Risa hearing what Otani said just now and she felt a bit happy about him wanting to cooperate with her "investigation". However, it made sense since Nakao is Otani's best friend and wanted to be more curious about this ordeal even though that is very uncharacteristic for him doing such things anyways.


	3. A Hidden Secret Exposed

3

The following day while at work particularly during her lunch break, Risa notices as she passed by one of the tables that two women were conversing about something that sounded very suspicious. So, Risa decides to take a closer look on the table where the two women were sitting at.

"I heard that Nakao got into serious trouble for doing something that his long-time girlfriend had no other choice to break up with him." One of the women stated to the other person that accompanied her.

"What was it?" The other woman asked out of curiosity.

Risa noticed that the two women who were conversing with each other ended up being people that went to the same high school as Risa and all her friends. It did not take long for one of the women to notice that Risa was sitting at the table right behind the women. They greeted each other and went back to talking about Nakao. The two women were completely unaware of the fact that Risa was snooping in on their conversation the entire time.

"*sighs*It was that while hanging out with his closest friend, Otani. Nakao wanted to go to a concert of a band that he liked to listen to. During the concert, supposedly while Otani was not around Nakao had made a move on a girl they encountered. I heard that Nakao's girlfriend found about this…..." The first women answered her friend's question with a calm look on her face.

After hearing that statement, Risa felt really upset on the fact that Otani was hiding something from her concerning their dearest friends' romantic relationship to cease. A few hours passed, Risa was walking home from work before noticing a familiar face was approaching in her direction.

"Risa, what's wrong?" Nobuko asked once she got closer to Risa.

"I'm just very upset about something that I overheard at work today." Risa stated with a frown look on her face.

That was when Risa explained to Nobuko about the conversation concerning Nobuko's breakup with Nakao. Realizing the reason why her friend was upset, Nobuko decided to comfort Risa while on the way back to Risa's apartment. Upon reaching the entranceway to the apartment, Risa notices that Otani had a stern look on his face and proceeded to thank Nobuko for comforting her. However, once Risa and Otani entered the apartment a very uneasy feeling started to surround the couple.

"Otani, is there something you are trying to hide from me?" Risa said in a very bitter tone.

"Uhh…what do you mean by that, Koizumi?" Otani responded with a calm look on his face.

It was in that moment, Risa had told Otani about the conversation she overheard at work. Realizing that it is a key piece of their investigation, Otani had decided to find out the best way to answer Risa's original question.

"Alright it's true based on what you told me. I did not make any moves on the other women at that concert. Besides I did not want our own relationship to falter just like that time before we graduated from high school. I was a fool not knowing the actions that Nakao made back then could have lead up to this." Otani responded with pure honesty written all over his face.

After hearing Otani's response, Risa was still upset with him for covering up the truth behind an integral part of how their friends' breakup came about. The only thing that Otani could do to make Risa happy again is by using one of his old comedy tricks which he pulled on her all the time during their high school days. It worked out for the best as Risa did the same thing back to Otani which was something that came out of nowhere.

"I think we should not tell Nobuko what I told you earlier, Koizumi." Otani said with a stern look on his face.

"*sighs*I suppose that is the right thing to do for now. Since Nobuko does not know that we are snooping into her and Nakao's breakup. I wonder if our old friends Chiharu and Ryoji know about this." Risa stated with a wondrous look on her face.

That was something which both Risa and Otani had forgot about the entire time. With that in mind Risa had to figure out a way to contact Chiharu since they had not talked to each other a month after their high school graduation. It took a few minutes until Risa hatched an idea on how she can get Chiharu's contact information. The idea was for Risa to ask Nobuko if she had talked to Chiharu lately and hopefully get the chance to get her contact information.

"Koizumi, first off how are you going to convince Nobuko to ask about Chiharu? If you mention even the slightest bit of information to Nobuko about our investigation. Then there will be a serious consequence to be paid from this." Otani said in a very stern tone.

"Well I am going to ask Nobuko to stop by at my work tomorrow if she is available to meet me there. I understand not to tell her that we are investigating her breakup with Nakao." Risa responded with a calm look on her face.


End file.
